Winthrop University Hospital, located at 259 First St., was the first volunteer hospital on Long Island. (June 26, 2012) Photo Credit: Amy Onorato

Winthrop-University Hospital, in the midst of building a four-story, $80 million research pavilion in downtown Mineola, will receive a $1 million state grant.

The 94,000-square-foot center, being built at Mineola Boulevard and Second Street, is in the early stages of construction. It will be ready in 2015, hospital officials said, and will consolidate its active research initiatives, including studies on diabetes and obesity.

Long Island received nearly $60 million for building and expansion projects in the state competition for development grants; the projects are expected to create hundreds of jobs. Last year, the Island received more than $101 million. The Winthrop grant was among the largest.

In a statement, John F. Collins, hospital president and chief executive, called the grant "a significant contribution" to the total cost of the new center.

Hospital officials said the Winthrop Research Institute would add 500 construction jobs over the next two years, and 45 permanent ones once the hospital is built. "This $1 million regional economic grant . . . represents an investment in Mineola's continuing efforts to enhance its transit-oriented downtown area," Mayor Scott P. Strauss said in a statement Wednesday.

The center will include a multipurpose, 400-seat amphitheater for lectures and educational events. It will also house classrooms for the 80 Stony Brook medical students who live and study on the Winthrop campus.

The hospital also was awarded nearly $80,000 to train 113 nurses to use telemetry equipment, which helps monitor vital signs; it will also get $22,000 to train 26 workers in root operations and international classification of diseases.